A U.K. professor says she is preparing to sue an arts organization over comments in the wake of Meghan Markle's Oprah Winfrey interview about commentators of a "colorful disposition."
Dr. Anne Anderson was about to give a Zoom lecture on IKEA furniture when small talk turned to the bombshell CBS tell-all interview given by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in March, 2021.
The Exeter University academic told her audience she had a quiet session on the night the interview aired because the timing "clashed with the dreaded Meghan Markle."
She also said: "Oh dear, you couldn't turn the television on without some person of a colourful disposition having a moan about something."
A complaint was filed based on her reference to commentators of a "colourful disposition" and the subsequent investigation cleared her of racism but found she made inappropriate comments.
Now she has called in a lawyer to help prepare a pre-action letter ahead of filing a breach of contract lawsuit against Britain's Arts Society—an umbrella for arts education organizations.
Dr. Anderson told Newsweek she is yet to formally file the lawsuit but is at the early stages of doing so.
She said: "I have got a solicitor to help write the pre-action letter."
She added: "I think a lot of feelings were riding high at that point in that she was sat in her lovely Californian garden and we were in total lockdown in March. No Californian sunshine for us. The fact she was just moaning about her lot in life when our lot in life appeared to be a lot worse didn't seem very appropriate.
"We just basically let off a bit of steam about the interview and the media's response, to which I referred to her as 'the dreaded Meghan' and I also referred to the media response as being a 'colourful disposition'."
She said she was aiming to bring the case under contract law having been put off filing for defamation.
The Arts Society said in a statement to Newsweek: "The decision to remove Dr. Anderson's accreditation was regrettable but necessary.
"First, Dr. Anderson failed to comply with some of the conditions imposed on her by the complaints panel on 19 April 2021, following the panel's investigation into an allegation of racism. Secondly, by speaking to the press with an untrue account of the facts and the complaints procedure, she brought The Arts Society into disrepute.
"The decision to remove her accreditation was therefore appropriate in the circumstances."
The organization added: "We're a learning organisation, and a broad church of views and interests, and we welcome scrutiny and criticism. But we're also entitled to act when allegations that are untruthful and unfair are made against us."
Anderson, an honorary associate professor, told the Daily Mail: "I have lost three-quarters of my income."
She said she had suffered financially after lecturing contracts were cancelled in the wake of a formal complaint being lodged against her.
Florian Schweizer, chief executive of the Arts Society, emailed 300 officers around Britain to warn them her accreditation had been removed and that if they hired her they would do so "at their own risk."
Anderson told Newsweek: "He published this letter to 300 society chairs saying that it was a risk to employ me and basically that was the end of my career."
The Arts Society said: "There was nothing vindictive about that email—it was a necessary step. Mr. Schweizer was under a duty to inform all local Society Chairs of this matter, because the removal of a lecturer's accreditation is a very rare occurrence."
She previously said she regretted the comments made in the lead up to her lecture, "How we got IKEA: Scandinavian Design 1880-1960," given to the Arts Society of Truro.
Anderson's lecture appears to be on YouTube, published in March 2021, though the statements that gave rise to the dispute seem to have been made before the video starts.
Meghan and Harry's Oprah interview sparked an international conversation about racism after they described how an unnamed royal made comments suggesting her unborn child's skin might be too dark.
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Update 05/19/22, 6:30 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a response from the Arts Society and quotes from Dr. Anne Anderson.
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